Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 320 Yuan Shu: They are all coming towards me!

While Tian Kai was silent, Liu Bei was also waiting for his reply. As Gongsun Bogui's confidant, Tian Kai might be able to persuade Gongsun to face the reality.

It would also save him from having to fight Gongsun Zan on the battlefield in the future. Youzhou had already been in his pocket, and he would never hand it over to the Gongsun family. Even if the two sides had a deep friendship, they could not give in on such matters.

Gongsun Bogui didn't even think about it. Now that Liu Xuande was the King of Han and Youzhou was also Han territory, how could he allow the princes to split the country?

"Bogui, you have to think carefully and don't act on impulse and lose your life."

Liu Bei muttered to himself.

He had already sent people to Youzhou to take over the counties. If Gongsun Zan attacked the Han army in anger, he would be thousands of miles away and would be unable to stop the Han army.

He glanced at Tian Kai and said bluntly: "Since the uprising in Hebei, the princes have attacked each other. The cities have all been reduced to ruins, and the living have turned into ditches. Now those who are left are either the remains of the sharp swords or the orphans of exile. The cries of the people can be heard for a hundred miles. I hope that Mr. Tian can persuade Bo Gui to come and join us as soon as possible, so that we will not let Gongsun down."

Hearing the King of Han's earnest persuasion, Tian Kai suddenly understood that since it had become a delusion to control Youzhou, it would be better for him to surrender to the Han Dynasty as soon as possible. At least he could keep his high position based on their previous friendship.

Tian Kai immediately bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I will ride my horse back to Youbeiping County tomorrow and urge General Gongsun to bow his head to the south and show loyalty to the emperor. I will come to Xindu to surrender to the Han Dynasty."

"It's just that Youzhou Mu Liu Yu colluded with the Han traitor Yuan Shao. Now his entire family has been imprisoned for a long time and he still has not repented. I don't know how to deal with him?"

Liu Bei laughed, pointed his finger and said, "If Mr. Tian can really persuade Gongsun Bogui to surrender for the Han family, I will definitely reward him handsomely."

Then he paused for a moment, thought for a moment, and then said, "Liu Bo'an had outstanding achievements when he was an official. He always comforted the people with kindness. We must not let Bogui kill him for no reason."

"Send him to Xindu first, and I will make a final decision after I find out the whole story."

"If they really colluded with Yuan Shao, they must be punished accordingly. The Gongsun clan must not punish them privately."

The reason why Liu Bei said this was because he was afraid that Gongsun Zan would think that he had surrendered to him and would take the initiative to kill Liu Yu's family, which would make his reputation extremely passive.

Maybe people in the world would mistakenly believe that Liu Xuande was afraid of Liu Yu's reputation, so he secretly killed him with the help of his classmate Gongsun Bogui.

He didn't want to be blamed for Gongsun Zan for no reason.

Tian Kai understood the meaning of the King of Han's words and bowed, saying, "Don't worry, your Majesty. Whether Liu Bo'an is guilty or not will be determined by the Liu family of the Han Dynasty. As a Han minister, how dare General Gongsun punish him? I hope your Majesty will wait for a while. After I have persuaded my master, I will send Liu Yu and his family here."

He also patted his chest and made a promise to the King of Han.

As long as Liu Bo'an could successfully persuade Gongsun Zan to surrender, his family would be safe, and vice versa.

At that time, the two families would have no choice but to fight each other on the battlefield, and everything would depend on whether General Gongsun could listen to advice.

How could Liu Bei not hear the hidden meaning? He smiled meaningfully and said, "If it can be done this way, it would be great."

If Gongsun Bogui insisted on going his own way and forcibly occupied the counties of Youzhou, he would have no choice but to send troops to wipe out the Gongsun clan and at most leave some offspring for them.

If you show kindness to a reasonable person, he will be grateful immediately. But if you show kindness to an arrogant person, he will only become more arrogant and self-reliant. Gongsun Zan is just such a person. I just hope Tian Kai can really persuade him. ...

When Yuan Shang of Hebei led his officials out of the city with their bodies bared and their faces tied, and surrendered, Yuan Shu of Huainan also suffered a great crisis.

Because Zhang Fei led troops from Luoyang and went south to recapture Nanyang County, he was appointed by Liu Bei as the prefect of Nanyang, supervising military affairs in northern Jing and stationing troops in Wancheng.

Earlier, Wen Pin received a military order from Liu Biao, the governor of Jingzhou, so he led his troops to retreat, abandoning Xinye and heading for Xiangyang.

Zhang Fei, following Liu Bei's orders, did not pursue and kill Wen Pin without permission. He just led his troops behind and watched him leave.

At that time, Zhang Fei was puzzled and asked why. Liu Bei smiled and explained: "We must give Liu Jingsheng some hope. Many of his party members have good reputations. Since he is willing to give up Nanyang directly, we should stop while we are ahead and give him some face. It will not be difficult to persuade him to surrender in the future."

"Sun Tzu said: To defeat the enemy without fighting is the best of all strategies. And Wen Pin is also a great general. It would be a pity to kill him now. Let him feel grateful for my indulgence today and repay me later. After all, expanding to the south will easily cost a great general..."

Seeing Zhang Fei's puzzled expression, Liu Bei couldn't help but grin and said, totally lacking the majesty of the King of Han that he usually had.

Without further explanation, he appointed Xun You as the governor of Henan, to govern Luoyang and to guard against the frequent attacks of the Baibo bandits in Hedong and Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu from Liangzhou in Hongnong.

Yuan Shu was greatly shocked by Liu Biao's decision to voluntarily abandon Nanyang County and defend Xiangyang.

Regardless of previous grudges, he sent Hua Xin to Xiangyang, Jingzhou, to ask the reason. As a member of the party, was he so afraid of Liu Bei like a tiger?
Yuan Shu looked around and waited for two whole months, but he did not see Hua Xin return to Huainan.

Thinking that Hua Xin was detained by Liu Biao, he sent someone to inquire, only to find out that Hua Xin had become Zhang Fei's guest and was giving advice to Zhang Yide in Nanyang County.

Upon hearing the news, Yuan Shu flew into a rage and yelled at all the officials: "Hua Xin, as a Confucian scholar, broke his promise and volunteered to go to Jingzhou, but never came back. He is unworthy of being a famous scholar!"

It was just when Guan Hai and Le Jin pacified Runan that the soldiers rested on the spot for more than a month, and were able to free up their hands to work with Taishi Ci to deal with Yuan Gonglu.

After discussing it, the two men wrote a letter to the King of Han, saying: "Nanyang has been conquered, Liu Biao has no intention of competing for supremacy, and the Jiangxia garrison is still on good terms with our army, so the King has no intention of attacking it either."

"Only Yuan Shu of Huainan is a traitor to the country. He spreads prophecies and falsely claims to be the emperor. He has evil intentions. A centipede is not dead, so many people support it. The historians of Xiapi have been fighting for several months, but they still cannot conquer Jiujiang and Shouchun. This is because they are isolated and weak. If they are surrounded on three sides, they will be like grass blown by the wind, and they will fall with the wind."

When the letter of request for war arrived in Luoyang, Liu Bei read it carefully and immediately nodded in agreement. He also wrote in the letter: "This year, I will work with you to destroy the two Yuans in the north and south."

Liu Bei ordered his assistant clerks, recorders, and clerks to immediately write more than ten official documents, stamp them, and send them out. The army's food, equipment, and armor were requisitioned from Nanyang County via the Caohe waterway to Runan as military rations, while the rest of the relief food remained untouched.

The millet and wheat harvested in Yingchuan County and Pei State were still transported to Runan for disaster relief. The two should not be confused, so Cui Yan, who was then the Gongcao of Runan, was ordered to supervise the matter personally.

In April of the second year of Jian'an, when Liu Bei sent troops to Xindu, Guan Hai and Le Jin led their troops to attack Lujiang County and Jiujiang County.

Faced with the imminent arrival of the royal army, the county magistrate, county deputy and county lieutenant under Yuan Shu's rule all abandoned their posts and fled, not to mention the village treasurers, village assistants, patrol officers, village chiefs, and relay officers, all of whom ran faster than the other and hid in the mountains to avoid disaster.

Especially in the county towns and villages close to Runan County, the administration was almost at a standstill, and even the county soldiers had all fled.

(End of this chapter)